Paracord

It is my strong belief and opinion everyone should have a roll or two of paracord in their preps.

This, is a good deal.

If you ask why I bet you, like many I know, eat bean sprouts, walk poodles for recreation and have been know to vote democrat and date metrosexuals.

Stephen

For lotta joy

My new friend lotta joy left a comment with questions and concerns about our current experience with this tropical storm, and yes, we still have rains and wind today. The storm has made a very slow turn to the north, which gives us the bands of rain. So far we've had six plus inches.

lotta joy and her husband are new to the state of Florida. She and her husband are old hands when it comes to snow and ice, but hurricanes and tropical storms are a different breed of beast and require different preparations.

Let's make this simple - read this book.

Crisis Preparedness Handbook by Jack A. Spigarelli, and try and find the updated second edition. Amazon has ample stocks. The book is concise and simple to read and will prepare you for any emergency, either natural or man-made.

I do not believe in prepping for only one kind of emergency. It's a waste of time and energy. Prep for all that this old world will throw your way; if you need examples just ask the survivors of the Warsaw ghetto and victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Everyone wants a list. Fine, here are but a few items I have and keep in stock at my home. This list isn't from a book. I was born and raised in the state of Florida and have dealt with many hurricanes and storms. This list is from experience and I strongly urge you to pay heed.

You need:

Books - of course. An education is priceless, and hey, when you're bored you'll have reading material.

Radios - the power will leave you in the dark. Notice I didn't write, might. The power will say bye-bye. Get a couple or three. I believe and preach a 'back-up to a back-up to a back-up.' We refer to this as the rule of three. I have shortwave and crack (dynamo) radios. I own several of each.

Raingear - duh. You will make trips outside into the rain. Find good quality raingear. I purchased mine at Lowe's. I'm sure Home Depot has good raingear in stock.

Hurricane lamps (kerosene) - again, back to power outages. You'll want several of different sizes. Remember, the lamps burn fuel. I keep five gallons, in a blue container, stored in my garage.

Matches - or lighters. I prefer the 'strike anywhere' matches and have at least two cases stored. Again, this is one of those, duh items. It's hard to light a lamp wick or stove without fire.

Flashlights and fresh batteries - Again, several. Fresh batteries work better than dead batteries. I also have a nice supply of rechargeable with a charging station. A good headlight is worth its weight in gold when you're out in the dark rain with a tarp or chainsaw in hand.

Tarps - You will need a large tarp and a few small ones. Buy a tarp big enough to cover any hole in the roof of your home. Think, huge. Then, purchase some rope and cut six foot sections and attach these sections to the grommets on the tarps with knots tied in the loose end of the rope. This will help you either attach sash weighs or other heavy objects to the tarp. If you have a nearby handy tree, like the one that just made the hole in your roof, tie off to its limbs. Rain in your living room isn't good for libraries.

Generator - if you have the funds I highly recommend you have the generator hard wired to your house. Our generator has saved our bacon more times than I can count. It will give you (depending on its wattage) power to at least seven circuits. You will have power to keep your refrigerator and/or freezer cold, lights, ceiling and portable fans and a small window air conditioner. We've used ours for periods of two weeks or more....life will still be a challenge but at least, if you have satellite service for your television, you'll be able to catch the news reports and stayed informed as to the movement of the hurricane and its offspring, tornadoes.

Food - another duh. Keep a years supply of stored food. If I need to explain this...never mind.

Stored Water - not those silly little bottles, which are nice, but many gallons. Treat the water with bleach. The aforementioned book has this information. I have three blue barrels (blue is food grade) filled and treated. You will need a pump for the barrels. This gives me one hundred and sixty-five gallons of fresh water if needed. Remember, city and town water pumps need power. When the power fails gravity takes over so you should have water for a couple of days unless the water supply becomes contaminated. Store water, period.

Portable stoves - see Food above. I have a gas range so I just strike a match when the power goes, poof. If you have a gas grill try and keep at least two extra propane tanks. A good old fashioned Coleman stove will serve in a pinch. Hit Ebay and try and find a good quality alcohol stove too. Military grade if possible. Rule of three, remember. 

Firearms - Critters, moon fleas, democritters, and other scum of the earth always take advantage of the weak during power outages. I've had neighbors leave their generators, powered and attached to their panels, out and unprotected during the night. Guess what happened to those generators and other equipment in their garages. Home invasions take place on a nightly basis. Just a word to the wise.

Chainsaw - or two if possible. Think high wind. When winds reach hurricane levels (seventy-four) trees not only bend, they fall. Been there, done that. Take my word, a working chainsaw will save your bacon. Mine, at present is broken. It will be repaired or I will replace it.

Enough, I've covered the basics. Please, read the book. If you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask.

Good luck.

Stephen
 

Thanks & Welcome

To my new friend and follower, Mohave Rat. My new friend I promise to always answer your comments.

To my other followers and friends, please take a moment and scurry your fuzzy rearends over and visit our new friend's blog, mohaveratstwocentsworth, I believe you'll find it very interesting.

Again, thank you and welcome to my humble blog. You are now among friends.

Stephen

In Memoriam

Stephen

We're Still Here

And so is the storm. My Internet connection just came back online after an all night outage. We currently  have sustained winds of thirty-five miles per hour. Last night the weather service reported gust upwards of seventy with one unconfirmed burst of eighty-six.

With the morning light I see our yard is a mess. The rain is heavy and steady. I have no idea how much we've received. All the weather service reports are cumulations at our local airport and they are never the same we receive here in the city. I'll guess two to three inches.

Our power flickered all night but never, thank the Good Lord, went out. I still kept a couple of our hurricane lamps lit against the chance of such an occurrence.

We're very lucky, others not so much. Trees are down on cars and homes. It's sad. Many thousands of homes are without power. Now we face the backside of this tropical storm and we have a long day ahead of us.

One saving grace has been my little 'wind up' Eton radio. If you don't have one I'd highly recommend you purchase at least two. They're inexpensive and very nice to have when the power is out.

I've been awake all night and I feel the lack of sleep creeping into my sore body. I paced all night, took flashlight trips out into the rain several times. Every bump and wind burst had me up and out on the check for downed limbs, the condition of our roof, and my truck. The truck survived, so far, without a scratch. My morning paper even arrived dry.

I'd like to thank all of you, my kind friends, for your words of encouragement and support.

Time for my sixth or seventh pot of coffee. Hopefully I'll sleep sometime today.

Until later, and forgive my lack of edit on this post. I'm just too darn tired to care.

Stephen

Storm Upgrade

It is in situations like this, a tropical storm, when you truly find out if you are indeed ready for emergencies. For the most part, we are ready.

I just filled another five gallon container of gas from our reserves for use in our generator. I keep our reserve gasoline in a fifty five gallon barrel in our backyard. (don't tell tell our fire marshal, please) I keep this drum on four columns of concrete blocks with the rear of the drum slightly raised. It has brass fittings for hinge and cover and spigot. The gasoline is treated and I do rotate it between our vehicles.

My generator fires on the first pull. It too is ready for service. We have ample stocks of food. Kerosene hurricane lamps and flashlights with fresh batteries.

I understand the storm has been upgraded and the weather service now predicts wind gust to seventy miles an hour. My main concern are our trees. We have  a LOT of trees. As a matter of fact I'm worried about my truck. It's too big to park alongside our car in the garage unless I move a ton of other equipment and small items out into the rain. If I leave it parked on our street it will sit under two huge pines - not good. If I park on our driveway it will be beneath a large very old Live Oak. No win.

Our street runs downhill towards the river. I can see the river from my front yard. In a few hours water will be as that river on our street, fast and deep. The crabs will move up the streams of water into our yard. The herons and egrets will follow. My neighbors dock will be under water. My other neighbors home which sits on a point of the cove will probably have their living room flooded.   

We are in the path. We will have a direct hit. I hope its nothing more than a bad thunderstorm. I, of course, only wish it a light storm as this will last for several days as it hits, stalls, and then makes a hard northern turn and then back to sea, where, it shall then gain strength and head north towards my lovely friend kymber's home.

Now, I must confess I've been caught with my pants down when it comes to my chainsaws. I own three and all are broke. I just haven't had time this year to have them repaired or replaced. If a tree is pushed over under these hard winds I'm in for a world of pain. I hate, using the word hate here, to ask for help. I have friends willing and able to jump in and help when I need them - but it just kills my soul to ask. I will purchase a new chainsaw as soon as possible. Which will be next week, after the storm.

Standby.

Stephen

Rainy Day

A tropical storm is about to move over our area and provide us with the perfect day of books, coffee, and rest.

I went outside a few minutes ago and cleared away any item I thought might get jerked around by sustained forty-five mile an hour winds with possible gust of sixty miles an hour.

We expect a direct hit. Hope my trees hold under the pressure.

Should be fun.

Stephen